SEVP Announces New Regulations for Online Classes for F1 Students

On July 6, 2020, there was an announcement made regarding the Student Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP). They announced new regulations for students who wanted to start their studies this fall in the States. What is this program and what are the regulations they announced? More than that, what should you expect next? Find out all about it here.

What Is the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP)?

The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) manages schools, as well as foreign students and exchange visitors in the U.S. Basically, this program is part of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whereas the latter is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Basically, this program helps a student or exchange visitor receive an F, J, or M visa. Of course, it’s not the SEVP itself that offers these visas, but the embassies or consulates of other countries. Still, as long as the SEVIS system contains your proper status and information, you have higher chances of receiving one of the visas listed previously.

In order to keep track of schools, nonimmigrant students, and exchange visitor programs, SEVP uses the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS).

Why Is SEVP Adding New Regulations?

SEVP must add new regulations due to the coronavirus situation. Now that the pandemic puts so many people at risk, measures are being taken to prevent the spread of the virus. One of the measures is online classes because going to classes in person would simply be too risky for a lot of people. Multiple colleges and universities have to suspend their classes and switch to online classes instead.

This has left a lot of foreign students wondering what’s going to happen to them. So, SEVP added new regulations for foreign students who study in the U.S. and are studying at universities that offer online classes only during the next academic year.

What Do the New Regulations Say?

There was an announcement made by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, stating that foreign students part of U.S. colleges and universities offering online classes will have to go home. Now that COVID-19 has forced so many universities to close their doors and move to online classes, foreign students are facing a challenge. If their college or university is only offering online classes in the next academic year that starts in August 2020, they will have to leave the U.S. and go home.

This is all because student housing was vacated, which means that students had no choice but to leave the campuses. At the same time, they are able to keep their F1 visa status, according to USCIS.

The new rule will apply to all international students under F1 status. If the college or university announced that the classes will take place online for sure for the semester starting in fall, then this will apply to the students that attend these schools. The rule will instantly go into effect. Moreover, the schools have to finish the academic plans for the following semester until July 15, 2020, after which they have to relay these plans to SEVP.

Here’s what you need to know about the new regulations:

• If you’re a nonimmigrant student with an F1 visa, then you will have to follow the existing regulations if you’re attending a normally-operating university. This applies when it comes to creating a balance between in-person and online classes. As an F visa student, you’re only allowed to take 3 credit hours or one class online.
• When it comes to taking a full online course load, you will not be allowed to enter or stay in the United States as long as you’re a nonimmigrant F1 or M1 status student. It’s important to keep in mind that no visas will be granted to these students by the U.S. Department of State. As such, if a student is currently living in the U.S. and happens to be part of one of these programs, they are asked to leave the country. Otherwise, they would have to transfer to a different university that offers in-person classes.
• There are situations in which hybrid models are taken into account by universities, in which case a nonimmigrant F1 student attending one of these universities can take more than 3 credit hours online or one class. But it is important for these schools to let SEVP know that the program doesn’t fully happen online. A Form I-20, aka the “Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant Student Status”, will have to be submitted. This will help show that the school’s program won’t take place only online and that the student’s course load will not happen entirely online either. What’s more, this will show that the student is only taking the minimum possible online class number that’s required to move towards their degree.

It’s also possible that the school will start the semester with in-person classes, but over the course of the semester, it wants to switch to online-only classes. In this case, the college/university will have to make updates with SEVIS within 10 days of them making these changes. So, this would still make non-immigrant students have to leave the U.S. later on since they are not allowed to have a full course load online.

Are There Any Exceptions to the Rules?

Some students are exceptions to the new rules. This group includes F1 students who take part in language training programs in English, as well as M1 students who are working towards vocational degrees.

Moreover, the following alternatives will exempt some schools and colleges from having to deal with this new rule:

• Hybrid systems, aka a combination of in-person and online classes
• Having at least one in-person class available
• Holding in-person classes

What Should International Students Expect?

In the following period, all schools will be required to report their final plan to SEVP, and it has to be done by August 1, 2020. Moreover, F1 students in the U.S. are going to find out about the final version of the fall 2020 academic plan, which will be showcased on the DSO of the school.

Until August 4, 2020, schools are required to tell SEVP the number of students who are going to take hybrid classes. Also, when there’s a final version of the academic structure, a new Form I-120 will be made public by the DSO. This will be available for eligible students who can remain in the U.S.

Conclusion

The new rules and regulations announced by SEVP may affect you if you’re a nonimmigrant student and your school has announced online-only classes for the next semester. You would have to return to your country, as you’re not allowed to remain in the U.S. for that period since your visa category doesn’t allow full course loads online. You will find out about your school’s plans very soon, so make sure to check out the DSO.

On the other hand, if your school will allow in-person classes starting this fall, you’re lucky as you can remain in the U.S.

Frank Gogol

I’m a firm believer that information is the key to financial freedom. On the Stilt Blog, I write about the complex topics — like finance, immigration, and technology — to help immigrants make the most of their lives in the U.S. Our content and brand have been featured in Forbes, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and more.

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